Building block



A. KNAPEN BUILDING BLOCK June 12, 1923. 1,458,888

Filed Sept. 2, 1921 rmgaegcg o Patented June 12, 1923.

UNITED ST TE ACHILLE KNAPEN, OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.

BUILDING BLOCK.

Application filedseptember 2, 1921. SeriaI'No'. 498,072.

(GRANTED UNDER; rm: PROVISIONS or THE ACT or MARCH 3, 1921, .41 STAT. 1., 1313.

December 12, 1919, Patent No. 283,778;-in-

France December 17, 1919, Patent No. 507 ,445; and in Germany April 23, 1920), of. which the following a is a specification.

This invention.- relates toan agglomerate block of cementmortar, hydraulic lime,

. bitumen, etc, mix-ed with'sand, brickbats,

ashes or other suitable substances. This block is chiefly intended to enable hygienic buildings to be quickly erected free from condensation'and drawbacks due to the diathermal properties of the cement compounds.

Numerous constructions of porous or non-porous agglomerates, with'or without a single or double air space, have already been suggested for remedying the scarcity of the usual building materials and for enabling dwelling houses to be quickly built. All the houses built of cement agglomerates endowed with different porosities, are affected by the diathermal roperties peculiar to agglomerates of t at kind; the wall having to be reduced to their minimum thickness in View of the high price of the materials are attacked by moisture through capillarity when they are too porous, and become impregnated with water of condensation and with rain driven thereon by the wind. It follows that the said walls become greater and greater conductors, and consequently greater condensers; they cool the interior, the occupants of which are unable to keep warm.

It has been already attempted to remedy the drawbacks in question by rendering the walls thus constructed, impermeable in their mass; this method does not however give the results anticipated, as the impermeabilisation renders them conductors on account of their low degree of specific heat which frequently places them at the dew point relatively to the temperature and to the degree of saturation of the inner air of the premises occupied. Several years of practical experience have proved that such constructions are unhealthy, and at the end of a relatively short period become uninhabitable for human beings.

The present invention obviates all these drawbacks, whilst at the same time making it possible to benefit by the facility of manufacture and by the various advantages of the agglomerates from the building point of view. To that end, the invention is based on the observation that the provision of an inert air space in porous compounds, makes it possible to prevent conduction with condensation on the walls, vertical penetration of moisture by capillarity and horizontal introduction of wind driven rain, so that by'adding to houses built with porous compounds provided with an inert air space, a suitable automatic ventilation, it is possible to obtain an'ideal house from the point of view of health and comfort.

It has been scientifically proved that an air space comprised between two walls, is not really inert unless it is less than 3(J-et5 mm. thick. The inventor has found moreover by numerous experiments that such inert air spaces, in order to be eflicacious, must be arranged so to say progressively from the outside towards the interior so as to keep the maximum degree of caloric inertia at the inner face of the wall, which is alone in contact with the air in the inhabited rooms.

In accordance with the said principles, a block according to the invention is char acterized by the fact that whilst being made with a binding medium such as cement mortar, hydraulic lime, bitumen, etc., mixed in proportions determined by the nature of each individual wall, with quantities variable according to the circumstances, of brick bats, pussolan, or pumice stone, etc, it is provided in its thickness with an air space of a proportional and progressive thickness (but not exceeding 15 mm.) between the outer face and the inner face of the block.

The accompanying drawing shows by way of example constructions according to the invention.

Fig. 1 is a plan of a normal block; Fig. 2 is a similar view of a corner block. The block a made as already stated from cement mortar, hydraulic lime, etc., mixed with brick bats, ashes, etc, is provided in -ducing the air spaces.

its thickness with hollows or recesses 6 producing an inert air space of a thickness progressing between the outer face 0 and the inner face (Z of the wall of the house. In the example illustrated, these inert air spaces are assumed to show a progressive thickness comprised between 30 and i5 min; moreover the said air spaces are arranged so as to be staggered relatively to each other from one row to another, so as to exercise efiicaciously their action throughout the whole thickness of the block and in any transrerse plane of the same.

The blocks could be made in diiferent thickness from 90 mm. inner partitions up to 500 mm. and more for the outer walls. The height depends on the dimension of the apparatus used for the manufacture. The angles or corners of buildings are formed by means of blocks constructed as shown in Figure 2, so as to produce corresponding; airspaces in the portions adjacent to the two sides of the outer angle.

Having regard to the inertia of the air spaces it is not necessary, in erecting buildings, to open or close Vertical conduits pro- The movement of the air molecules is prevented in an efficacious manner by the special dimensions of the air spaces which are insulated from each other, and the conduits could be eventually closed by the mortar utilized for making the vertical horizontal joints, with out the effect desired being modified.

The length of the conduits forming the air spaces, could eventually vary according to the position of said air spaces in the thickness of the block, the reduction of the diathermal properties of the block varying in proportion to their depth.

If it is desired to use blocks or panels of this kind with inert air spaces, not only on account of their special properties above referred to, but also as sound and heat insulators, or heat the centre row or one or more ot the end rows of the recesses, could be packed with slag wool or mineral wool, asbestos waste, crushed coal, pounded glass, or any other material which is a nonconductor of heat or sound.

lVhat I claim is:

A building'block formed with a number of inert air spaces arranged in a plurality of rows with the air spaces of one row in staggered relation with the air spaces of adjacent rows, the said air spaces being of progressive thickness from the enter to the inner face of the block, whereby said air spaces exert their maximum effect in that part adjacent to the inner face of the block and whereby the density of the block is greater in that part adjacent to the outer face of the block and gradually decreases toward the inner face of such block.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ACHILLE Ki APEN. Witnesses G. J. LELAND, A. R. ROCKWELL. 

